Coinage (Austria & Ottoman Empire)

1765, Vienna

Austria still found it strangely fascinating that the Ottoman Empire, his enemy of old, now entered his city as a merchant, selling coffee and other goods such as fashionable peacock feathers to him. When he saw Sadıq's face, however, he realised that this wasn't an ordinary visit. Something was wrong.

"Can you tell me what this is?" the Ottoman Empire inquired, spinning a silver coin in his hand before slapping it on the table in front of his host.

"That's the latest issue of our Maria Theresa thaler," Austria stated. "Is there anything wrong with it?"

"That is wrong." The Ottoman Empire tapped on the coin's front with his finger. "She's veiled."

"Yes," Austria said. "The Emperor died not long ago, and she mandated she be portrayed with a widow's veil from now on."

"Quite frankly…" Sadıq took a deep breath. "I don't like it. I don't want it. Give me some of the older coins instead."

Austria blinked. "I don't understand how this is a problem. It's just minted silver, after all."

"But it looks like a forgery."

"Look," Austria said, taking the coin in his hands and holding it towards the Ottoman Empire. "You can feel the embossments of the new coins as well. Their edges are also grooved, so you can't scrape them. They're just like the old ones."

"But, but…"

Austria could tell Sadıq was pouting. In a way, this was amusing. Then again… There was nothing funny about the Ottoman Empire not accepting his coins anymore. Sadıq had become a valued trading partner, and the Maria Theresa thaler was his favourite coin. Roderich sighed.

"The problem is the veil, isn't it?"

"Yes," Sadıq confirmed immediately. "I don't like it." He was still sulking, but Austria thought he saw another emotion, too… Was that a blush? Roderich wasn't sure. He tilted his head to the side, shooting his trading partner an inquisitive glance.

"Please accept my apologies when I say I consider it strange that you, of all people, insist on having a portrait of an unveiled woman on a coin."

"I don't know if that is strange." Sadıq was definitely red in the face now, a rare sight on this tall, tanned man. "You know… When else do I ever get to see a portrait of an unveiled woman?"

Austria thought about that. He sighed once again.

"All right. I'll see what I can do for you."

It wasn't difficult to find a mint willing to issue coins with an older die specifically for trade with the Ottoman Empire. When a new Maria Theresa thaler was reissued a few years later, it was decided to portray her with only a small veil, a compromise both the Empress and the Ottoman merchants could agree on. In the end, this was just a matter of selling goods. Well … at least for Austria.

Notes:

The Maria Theresa thaler (Maria-Theresien-Taler, MTT) is a silver bullion coin that was first minted in 1741, shortly after the beginning of the reign of Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia, 1717-1780) as Archduchess of Austria in 1740. When her husband Francis I (Franz Stephan, 1708-1765, Emperor 1745-1765) died unexpectedly, Maria Theresa mandated she be portrayed with a widow's veil from then on … with the result that her silver coins were hardly accepted in the Levant/the eastern Mediterranean anymore. That was why coins with an older die and coins with but a small veil were issued. When her portrait was changed in 1772, merchants from the Levant accepted it. The most widely issued variant, however, is the one that shows Maria Theresa's portrait of 1780, the year she died. Coins with this portrait and a small cross after the year 1780 are still issued to this very day. They were widely used as official currency in the Ottoman Empire/West Asia and West Africa up until the 1960s (!).

For this information, see: Heinz Moser and Heinz Tursky. Tirols Beitrag zur Überwindung eines regionalen Münzwesens. In: Von Stadtstaaten und Imperien: Kleinterritorien und Großreiche im historischen Vergleich: Tagungsbericht des 24. Österreichischen Historikertages, Innsbruck, 20.-23. September 2005. Eds. Christoph Haidacher and Richard Schober. Innsbruck: Wagner. 2006. 470-477. 475.